Suspicious packages were sent to election offices in more than 20 states this week, prompting an FBI investigation, prompting evictions and a flurry of staff, state offices and the Associated Press reported.
The threatening envelopes come as election officials across the country prepare for Saturday’s deadline to send the first ballots to overseas and military voters.
According to CNN and AP reports, the suspicious envelopes were received by election officials or intercepted en route to officials in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, and Nebraska. , New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Wyoming.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger said Thursday that a suspicious package “came our way” to his office by the U.S. Postal Service and that the Postal Service would try to intercept it. Fentanyl was sent to the elections office in Fulton County.
“We’re looking for it, and so are they,” Raffensberger said of the package.
Other election officials said: Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, told CNN this week that the battleground state was also targeted.
Bell said employees now wear gloves when processing mail and isolate certain areas of the office if they detect a suspect material that may be contaminated. An official in the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office told CNN that after this week’s incident, they advised employees to wear gloves when handling mail “out of an abundance of caution.”
“When we have to take these extra steps, it really adds to the workload, and it really adds to the anxiety about doing our job, which is really what we want to do is make sure people can vote,” Bell said. .
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